New Beginnings
by Dolphingirl32173
Summary: Sequel to The Woman I Love. Elena has awakened from death as a newborn vampire, having sacrificed her human life to save Damon on Founder's Day. It is time for one more test of Fate, and this time Damon will be included in the test. It is time to make a choice on what to do about Ripper Stefan and follow through. Damon/Elena
1. She Awakens

New Beginnings  
DG32173

Sarah: here's the sequel to _The Woman I Love,_ which, like _Our Eternity Begins_ (sequel to _Setting Things Right)_, was started when I _should_ have been working on Chapter 14, what the site calls Chapter 15, of the previous set, the chapters jointly called _Miss Mystic Falls._ But I'm not posting this story or _Our Eternity Begins_ until the previous two are completed and the last chapters are posted and have been up for at least a day. Now, enjoy the sequel.

_**CREDIT**_  
Credit goes to _crzykittyfangirl_ for helping me make my stories the best they can be. Thanks so much.

_**DISCLAIMER**_  
I own what I write. I own the prophecy that Damon and Elena will take part in during this sister-series. I own the powers that will be granted to them within this book that will last for the rest of eternity. I own the eternal mates bond that I have made up for my stories. If I own it, I will claim it before the chapter it appears in. If my beta or a reviewer inspires its creation, I will give credit to them prior to the chapter it appears in. Anything else is owned by someone else.

_**WARNINGS**_  
As usual, this is rated M. But there will be much more than my usual smut that will cause the rating of this book. And some of that other stuff is much darker than my usual stuff. After all, we have to retrain Stefan in this book and get rid of his Ripper behavior permanently. That will be a long, grisly affair. You have been warned.

_**SUMMARY**_  
Sequel to _The Woman I Love._ Elena has awakened from death as a newborn vampire, having sacrificed her human life to save Damon on Founder's Day. It is time for one more test of Fate, and this time Damon will be included in the test. It is time to make a choice on what to do about Ripper Stefan and follow through. _**Damon/Elena**_

_**REVIEW REPLIES TO LAST CHAPTERS OF THE WOMAN I LOVE**_

_Leann Nickerson:_ glad you enjoyed _The Woman I love_ and how I ended it. Yeah, Damon is smart enough that he would have _had_ to figure out what Elena was hiding when she spoke her dying words. I just couldn't leave off with him not realizing the truth. Here's the new story.

_HoneySexy:_ agreed. Here's the next in the series. Hope you enjoy it as much as you did the previous.

* * *

Chapter 1  
She Awakens

During the long hours Elena is in the dead phase of transition, I lay next to her in our bed, holding her. Every so often, I check her stomach to see the progress of the healing that has to take place before she can wake up. Each time I see the wound, my fury is renewed and reinforced, fury towards both that Judgy little witch and Elena's birth parents.

Around midnight, I hear the doorbell ring. I leave it to Stefan to answer it. I recognized the car engine coming up the drive. I'll make the witch come to _us_ so she can see with her own eyes what her judgy little ways have done. I reposition Elena so that she's facing the door, her ripped and bloody shirt on full display, the wound underneath not hidden in the least. It's healed a bit from what it had looked like when she had passed away in my arms, but it's still nasty-looking, showing off her internal injuries just as fully as the external.

I stay behind her on the bed as the witch cautiously makes her way to my room. Stefan had shut my door when he had left the room a few hours ago. There's a very timid knock on my door after the witch stands out there for a minute, gathering her courage to face the pissed off vampire.

"Only come in if you have a ring for Elena," I snarl where she can hear me.

She gulps. "I have a ring, but I can't enchant it until the sun is up," she says.

I contemplate this but decide that will have to do. "Fine. Come in and see what your judgy ways have done," I growl. She gulps again but resolutely opens the door. As soon as the door is wide enough open that she can see Elena fully, she gasps and covers her mouth with both hands, tears in her eyes as her gaze is fixed on the slowly closing hold in my girl's stomach. It's closing at a rate even the witch can see it, but it will still be a while before it heals completely. "Take it in, Judgy. Get a good hard look. _This_ is what happened because of your lie. _This_ is what happened to her because she couldn't stop what she _knew_ would happen if we let you 'disenchant' that device. _This_ is your fault, Judgy. It could have been prevented so very easily if you had just gone _through_ with disenchanting it. She died in my arms because of your prejudices."

"I didn't know," she starts.

"No one did but _her,"_ I snarl. I'm exerting my considerable self-control to keep from lunging at her, as my inner vampire demands I do to the one responsible for what happened to my mate. It wouldn't do to kill her before she enchants the ring she has for Elena. "No one knew _any_ of this would happen but _her,"_ I continue. "She's known since Georgia, which must have been the reset point of whatever original timeline she lived through before being sent back in time. She showed your grandmother what she knew in a vision when we got back, but that was _it."_

I turn gentle eyes on my girl. "Now go wait downstairs. I want to be alone with her when she wakes up in transition," I tell the witch coldly, turning my girl's body towards me so that I'm the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes.

Thankfully, she doesn't argue, leaving and closing the door quietly behind her. My guess is she is too greatly disturbed by Elena's damaged and dead body to even _want_ to stay in here.

It's an hour before dawn when Elena's body is finally fully healed. I know it's now only a matter of time before she wakes up. I start talking to her softly, hoping my voice will encourage her to wake up sooner rather than later.

Right as dawn's first light starts shining through my window, Elena snaps into a sitting position with a gasp. "Damon," she breathes with a gasp, overwhelming _joy_ radiating so intensely through her that I wouldn't even need our jewelry _or_ the mating bond to sense it.

I scowl at her, letting her know in no uncertain terms that I had figured out her big secret she's been keeping the past three months and I'm not happy with her. Even sensing my displeasure with her, she can't bottle up her feelings of joy of seeing me before her, _alive._ Finally I sigh and give her a wry smirk, understanding that after all the turmoil she had been going through for however long she had been going through it, she needs time to process and accept that she had succeeded in her mission to save me last night.

It takes several minutes before both her heart and her head can accept that she had succeeded. Her success had come at a price, as Gemma's message had said it would. But we're both still alive, in a sense. Neither of us met our final death last night.

That's when I speak. "You, young lady, are in trouble," I tell her.

"I couldn't let you die," she retorts. "At least I was able to come back. You wouldn't have."

I sigh and let her have that one because it's true. I _wouldn't_ have come back from a stake to the heart. I pull her into my arms. I had been waiting for the right time to say three oh-so-important words to her. But I realized as she was dying in my arms that there _is_ no 'right time'. Every day is a precious gift and should be treated as such. "I love you," I whisper in her hair, knowing her new vampire senses will let her hear me.

I feel her joy at finally hearing those words from me and wonder what kind of fool I was to deny her such a simple thing that brings her so much joy. She wraps her arms around me in return. "I love you, too," she breathes into my chest.

We hold each other, luxuriating in simply being able to wrap our arms around each other after such a horrific day. Finally, though, I sigh and pull away. It's with great reluctance that I speak. "Judgy's downstairs," I say. "She has a ring she's willing to enchant for you." Elena looks at me for a long, silent moment, letting me _feel_ just how angry she is with the witch and her reluctance to go near her right now, her fear of killing the witch in a fit of pique. And I realize that even after all the witch's actions had put her through, Elena _still_ cares about her as a friend. And I realize I can't have the revenge I had so desperately wanted when I realized what the traitorous witch had done. I sigh through grit teeth. "I won't let you kill her," I tell her.

Elena relaxes, knowing I would never _willingly_ break a vow I make to her, or anyone for that matter. As much as I feel the witch should pay for her betrayal of Elena, I won't let my girl act on her anger towards the witch nor will I go for revenge myself, as it would hurt Elena. And I would _never_ hurt Elena. I _can't,_ not without hurting myself in the process. "Then let's go," she says, pulling out of my embrace.

"I want that ring enchanted and on your finger _before_ you finish the transition into vampirism," I tell my girl as we climb off the bed.

Elena looks down contemplatively at her bloody and torn shirt and I let her feel my curiosity at the internal debate I sense waging war within her. "I'm debating whether I should keep the reminder that I'm now _technically_ dead because of her or change clothes before heading downstairs," she says in reply.

I smirk. "Keep it on," I encourage. "If that's all the revenge your pesky sentimentalities will let us get, then the least you can do is shove it in her face that you're now a vampire because _she_ wasn't a good friend to you."

Elena nods her agreement. "Alright," she says, heading for our door.

I follow behind her as she heads downstairs. I see the witch cringe as she sees the ruined clothes my girl is still wearing and struggle to hold in my urge to further rub her nose in it. I had my go at it earlier. It's Elena's turn and I won't intrude on my girl's show.

Elena waits a moment, letting the witch squirm beneath her predatory gaze, further enforcing the fact that she's no longer human. "As you can see, I'm now back from the _dead,_ Bonnie," she tells the witch finally. The witch opens her mouth to say something but Elena cuts her off. "I warned you the other night when you faked de-spelling the device that if anything happened to Damon or Stefan, I would never forgive you. You better be _damned_ grateful I managed to get between the stake in John's hand and Damon at the last second or I'd have killed myself with Damon's blood in my system immediately after Damon's death. Then I would have completed the transition just so I could enact my revenge on you, John, and Isobel. After I had killed all three of you for taking my mate from me, I would have found a nice sunny place and allowed myself to burn to death so I could be reunited with him in true death. That Damon survived is the _only_ reason I'm not trying to kill you right now. As it is, it will be a _very_ long time before you earn my good graces back. You've betrayed me in the past in many different ways. Each time, you had to re-earn my friendship. And you know as well as I do that combining _all_ those times of betrayal would _still_ have _nothing_ on this act of betrayal. I _died,_ Bonnie. I _died_ because you couldn't accept that Grams _knew_ she would die if she went through with the spell to lift the seal on the tomb.

"Now I stand before you, in transition to becoming a vampire because of _you._ I would have rather waited another four or five years, waited until I looked less like Katherine, before reaching this point. Now, _because of you,_ I will have all of _her_ enemies after me for the rest of eternity. Because of some information Damon and I have been given, I know Damon and I will be able to defend me from them. But we will _still_ have to fight them off for however long it takes other vampires to start recognizing the differences between Katherine and I. The _only_ reason I'm even willing to talk to you right now is because Damon said you have a ring you're willing to enchant for me to protect me from the sun. Otherwise, I'd be avoiding you like the plague. And if you think a simple _apology_ would even start to soothe my ire, know this: I lived the past three months _twice._ And after the events of Founder's Day in the first timeline, I had _continued_ to live, if that's what it could be called, for _three more months._ Three _months_ where I _wanted_ to die more than anything in the world. Three _months_ without my other half. _Three damn months_ _of existing as half a soul!_ Because, Bonnie, when Damon died in the other timeline, _half my soul died, too!_ I couldn't bear to live. But I also couldn't bear to die because I didn't know if I'd go to where he was in death. And you want to know the biggest irony of this whole damned thing?" she asks rhetorically. Before anyone gets even a chance to even _think_ about replying, Elena answers her own question. "The biggest irony, Bonnie, is that in the other timeline, _you_ were the one to send me back to right the wrong you had committed and yet you nearly committed it again!"

I'm beyond surprised that it's both _because_ of the witch and _thanks_ to the witch that last night had happened the way it did. I can see that however hard a pill that is for _me_ to swallow, it's even _harder_ for the witch to come to terms with how royally she had fucked up Elena's life in the original timeline and had nearly succeeded in doing so again.

I decide that even if Elena's not finished venting her frustration, Stefan, the witch, and I need to come to terms with what Elena has revealed so far before she reveals anything else. I place a hand on her shoulder. "Elena," I say too softly for the witch to hear, a warning in my voice. I don't need to _voice_ the warning because she understands me so well I can use tone or even just _emotion_ to communicate with her and she understand what I leave unsaid.

"Fine," she mutters at a volume only a vampire would hear. She refocuses on the witch. "Damon won't let me continue further right now," she tells her. "So what do I need to do so that you can enchant the ring you brought for me?"

Judgy takes a shaky breath before going to stand on one side of an open window that is letting the early morning light in. "Stand across from me," she tells my girl. Elena obeys. The witch pulls a beautiful silver ring with a pale blue lapis lazuli setting from her pocket and places it on the ground in the sunlight between them. I decide that while the witch is casting her spell, I'll get Elena a blood bag so she can complete the transition once the ring is enchanted.

I return with the blood bag even before the witch finishes her spell. I can sense the last of the spell being placed on the ring and know the witch isn't tricking us _this_ time. Once the spell is complete, Judgy picks up the ring and hands it to Elena. "There, it's enchanted to protect you from the sun," she says.

Elena puts the ring on her finger. Before Elena can think of a way to kick the witch out, I decide to do it for her. "Alright, Judgy," I say coolly. "You've enchanted the ring; you've seen that she's okay. Now get out before I give into my desire to do to you what you caused to happen to her. And I _won't_ be giving you blood beforehand, either."

Elena and I can both see the fear in the witch's eyes before she beats a hasty retreat. But she pauses at the front door. "Caroline's in the hospital," she says to Elena. "She, Tyler, and Matt were in a crash last night, and she was seriously injured." With that, she leaves.

Elena freezes so completely even her breathing stops, not that she _needs_ to breath anymore. I sense her worry for the blonde and place a hand on her shoulder. "After you finish the transition, we'll go see her," I tell her, handing her a blood bag.

Elena does as she's seen me do when I didn't want to feed from her and rips the valve off before sticking the tube in her mouth to drain the blood bag dry. I can tell she's too caught up in her worry to tell that I had gotten her type O positive blood. After I dispose of her blood bag, we head to the hospital to see what we can do for Blondie.

* * *

Sarah: and that's it for Chapter 1. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as they seemed to enjoy _The Woman I Love._ Please review and let me know what you think.


	2. What to Do With Caroline

New Beginnings  
DG32173

Sarah: welcome to Chapter 2 of _New Beginnings._ As I'm inspired, I'm just gonna get to the review replies and the chapter.

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_HoneySexy:_ glad you enjoyed it. Here's the second chapter.

_Leann Nickerson:_ glad you enjoyed the first chapter so much. What is Stefan thinking? Well, I might just have to write a companion fic like I did with Jeremy to detail his thoughts as now I'm curious, too. Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy.

_amazing Aisha:_ so glad you enjoyed the previous stories so much as well as the first chapter of this one. Here's more.

_Imarifirst:_ yeah, I had been hoping my muse would finally allow for Damon and Elena to have some time together without worry about anything. But as this chapter proves, my muse is a stubborn bitch and insists certain things happen as in the show. Thankfully, Caroline is a quick learner in the ways of vampires in the show and will soon be doing her own thing while Damon and Elena do theirs. While I'm not a huge fan of Caroline on her own, I _am_ a fan of pairing her and Klaus together. And hey, imagination is always a good thing. Here's the update.

* * *

Chapter 2  
What To Do With Caroline

Elena and I rush to the hospital, using our vamp speed since the Camaro is still in The Grill's parking lot. I hold back from my full speed because I know Elena won't be able to keep up with me at full speed, not until she's been a vampire for a few decades. I can sense Elena's worry for her friend and pray to the Fates that we make it in time.

It takes us only a few minutes to get to the hospital, despite it being on the other side of town. I could have arrived in under a minute but Elena can't run that fast yet and I wanted to let her have her first taste of what it's like to be a vampire running at top speed.

We slow down in the parking lot of the hospital after making sure nobody can see us just 'appear' from seemingly thin air. When we reach the ICU, we're both surprised to find that John was there, having had his fingers cut off last night by someone, including the finger that had been wearing his eternity ring. I can tell that Elena doesn't really care that he's in the hospital. She said the other night she intends on hunting both him and Isobel down and making them pay for what they have put her through these past three months as well as the three months she had survived after my death in the first timeline. But right now she's more worried about Caroline.

When we get to Blondie's room, we see Liz letting herself out, tears of worry in her eyes. "Elena, Damon, I'm glad you're here," she says, falling into our arms.

"I'm so sorry we couldn't arrive any sooner. We had only just found out this morning," Elena says softly.

"How is she?" I ask.

"Not good," Liz says, voice full of the pain of a mother fearing the loss of her child. "She's got massive internal damage. Right now she's in a drug-induced coma but the doctors don't know if she's ever going to wake up, or even make it through another night."

Elena exchanges a brief look and an even briefer conversation of emotions with me. I nod, giving her my permission to save Caroline the only way we can. "C'mon, Liz, let's let Elena have some time with her best friend. You need a break. I'll buy you a cup of coffee in the cafeteria," I say, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and guiding her down the hall towards the elevators.

Over coffee and a bagel that I force her to get, Liz tells me stories about her daughter's childhood growing up with Elena and Bonnie as best friends, giving me more insight on my girl's past than she had given me herself. Once Liz has had about three cups of coffee, a bagel, and even a little fruit, I realize I can't keep her from her daughter's side for much longer and send Elena an emotional warning that we're coming up. Thankfully, Elena sends me the emotional equivalent of a green light. She's done with what she was doing and is now just spending time with her friend.

I lead Liz back to her daughter's room. Liz sank wearily into the chair Elena vacates for her. Elena places her hand on the older woman's shoulder. "Don't worry, Sheriff Forbes. I think Caroline will be okay. She's even looking better now than she did when I first came in the room," my girl says encouragingly. "She's a fighter. She'll pull through."

Liz examines Caroline. "You're right. She does look a little better," she admits. She clasps Elena's hand briefly. "Thanks for giving me a break, Elena. You're a good girl." She pauses a moment. "If you haven't already, you should go see your uncle."

I can feel Elena's internal grimace at the thought of seeing John again so very soon but she keeps her expression strictly schooled. "I will," she says.

Since the ICU staff only likes two visitors at a time per patient and Elena and I aren't willing to separate unless we _have_ to so soon after last night, Elena and I bid farewell to Liz and leave the room. Elena sighs and turns deeper into the ICU, towards John's room. "You sure?" I ask softly.

She nods. "I told Sheriff Forbes I would," she says just as softly. "I just didn't say what I would do to him next time I saw him."

I silently follow her down the hall to John's room, not sure _what_ she has planned. I can't let her kill him, not in the hospital with all these humans around. At least, I can't let her kill him any of the ways I've been thinking about it since he had shoved that stake in her gut and caused her death. She may be able to think of a way to succeed in such a crowded setting. I notice her grab a syringe that had just been laid down after being filled with a large dose of a heart medicine and hide it in her pocket. I hide a smirk. Giving heart medicine to someone without heart problems, particularly such a large dose, can cause a potentially lethal heart attack.

Good thinking, Elena. And the best thing is that no one will think to blame John's visitors today, _if_ it's discovered that he died because of a heart medicine he wasn't supposed to be on. As Elena and Jeremy are his only living relatives and both hate him with nearly equal fervor, they won't ask for an autopsy. They'll just be glad he's gone. This means that, unless the hospital forces the issue, the cause of his death won't be discovered.

We slip silently into John's room to discover that he's asleep. Elena uses her new skills as a vampire to silently slip closer, close enough to touch John's shoulder. He jerks awake. He stares at her in terror and starts to panic. But she's standing between him and the call button. "Look what you did to me," she snarls, vamping out. "You did this. You, Isobel, and Bonnie. None of you could let me be happy with the one who made me happiest. And because of you three, I'm now immortalized as a vampire who looks nearly identical to Katherine. All her enemies will now come after me. I warned you and Isobel that you would both pay a price if you went through with using the device. I'm sure _you_ think the price was 'losing' me to becoming a vampire. That's where you're wrong." She pulls out the syringe. "This is the price you will both pay: _death."_

He tries to grab the syringe but is too slow to keep her from plunging it into his IV and draining the entire syringe into the liquid flowing into his veins. At Elena's cue, I change places with her, making sure that John won't be able to call for help before it's too late. Elena drops the syringe in the container for disposing of used sharps.

He manages to get two words out before his heart gives out because of the medicine. Two words that make it clear to Elena and I that things just won't settle down for us anytime soon: "Katherine's back."

As he has his heart attack, Elena goes to the door to the hall and pretends to be worried about him, using her _real_ worry about Katherine's plans as a subterfuge. "Help! My uncle's having a heart attack!" she calls out as the alarms within John's heart monitor start going off.

Nurses and doctors rush in to save him, shoving us into the hall. But Elena had made sure to wait until it was too late to save him. The doctors and nurses then try to resuscitate John but perhaps it's the knowledge that it was his birth daughter that had been behind this murder attempt this time that prevents his spirit from coming back from wherever it had gone.

John Gilbert is pronounced dead at 10:38am the day after Founder's Day, leaving behind only a seventeen-year-old 'niece' and a fifteen-year-old nephew. As for Elena's and my way of thinking, that's one down, one to go.

That evening, while Elena and I are lazing about in bed, Elena under the pretense that she's 'grieving' her uncle's death and not up for the party that will finish off Founder's Month, Elena gets a call from the witch.

"What do you want, Bonnie? I thought I made it clear that I'm _still_ pissed at you," Elena snaps when she answers the phone.

"_Where are you?"_ the witch asks.

"I'm at home with Damon. Nobody expects me to be at the party, not after my 'uncle's' sudden heart attack just today," Elena replies shortly. "Not that it's any of your business."

But even I can hear the worry in the witch's voice as she says goodbye. "What do you suppose that was about?" I ask my girl as she burrows closer to me.

"Who cares?" Elena asks rhetorically. "I just want to spend the next twenty-four hours with you, pretending to grieve while really celebrating. Then we can go to the school festival tomorrow evening."

I smirk. "Works for me," I say.

The next evening

True to Elena's wish, we stayed together in bed for the past twenty-four hours, only stopping when one of us needed a blood bag. We mutually agreed to wait a few days before going through the rituals Gemma left us to give Elena time to adjust to being a newborn _without_ whatever crazy powers those rituals will give us.

We're now at the school festival and Elena's enduring everyone's sympathies for the loss of her 'uncle', not one of them realizing _she_ is the reason he died. Suddenly, Elena and I spot Caroline going into the school building. We exchange worried glances. She wasn't to be released until _tomorrow._ What's she doing here _tonight?_

We follow her, intending on cornering her to find out how she snuck out of the hospital. That's when we get a very nasty surprise. Blondie has now become Vampire Barbie because Katherine wanted to send a message to Elena and I: "Game on."

As we're overcoming this news, she vamps away. _I_ want to stake the newborn Vampire Barbie because I don't think I can handle training _two_ newborns at the same time. But I can sense that Elena won't stand for it. Vampire Barbie is still her best friend, the only one she's on speaking terms with right now.

Elena had chosen to give her blood to Caroline, giving Katherine the opportunity to turn her without using her own blood. And thanks to the empathy link between Elena and I thanks to our jewelry, as well as my mark on her, I can sense the sire connection she feels towards Caroline, the same sire connection I share with her.

That's a bond Elena refuses to have cut short. So I reluctantly back off from my plan to stake Caroline, though this complicates things greatly. Does Katherine know Elena's a vampire? Or is she playing this game because she thinks Elena is still human?

We manage to track down Vampire Barbie again, but only after she's already accidentally drained the life from an injured carnival worker. That's when the witch finds us. When she sees the blood covering Caroline and realizes what had happened, she turns her fury on _me,_ mistakenly thinking it's somehow _my_ fault that this has happened to Caroline.

Elena manages to save me yet again, making it perfectly clear to the witch in no uncertain terms that it was _her_ blood that turned Caroline after _Katherine_ killed her. She also tells the witch in no uncertain terms that if she goes after me just one more time with intent for death, _Elena_ will take her out herself.

Elena and I get Caroline back to the boarding house. The barrier that had fallen in place when Elena had moved in as a human had vanished as soon as Elena died as a human in my arms two nights ago.

* * *

Sarah: and there's Chapter 2 of _New Beginnings._ How did everyone like it? As you can see, there will be _some_ following of Season 2's storyline at the beginning of this fanfic, but I assure you it won't be for long. Review and let me know what you think.


	3. Training and the Spells

New Beginnings  
DG32173

Sarah: welcome back to Chapter 3 of _New Beginnings._ As I'm sure everyone is wondering how closely this story will follow Season 2, I will tell you right now: not very closely at all. Only a few major scenes from Season 2 will make an appearance before Katherine realizes that Elena is now a vampire and as such can't be used for Klaus' ritual. Anyways, enough spoilers. Time for the review replies and then the story.

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_Leann Nickerson:_ glad you enjoyed the chapter. As for questions about Jeremy and Anna, well, who knows at this point. Isobel will inevitably be dealt with this book. As of right now, Isobel doesn't know how drastically their plan had failed because John didn't get a chance to get word to her before his death. All will be answered in time, but not just yet. Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it as much as you've enjoyed the other two.

_amazing Aisha:_ yeah, Damon is completely devoted to Elena by now. Here's the update.

_HoneySexy:_ glad you enjoy it so far. Here's more.

* * *

Chapter 3  
Training and the Spells

Beginning the very next morning after discovering what Katherine had done to Caroline, while Stefan is trying to convince the witch to make a daylight ring for Vampire Barbie, _I_ start training the two newborns. I already started some stuff with Elena in her final months as a human, as Katherine had with me. Blondie had called her mom and said she was staying with Elena for a few days, 'to help her overcome her grief over her uncle's death', or so she said as her excuse.

Because I had already started with Elena before her transition, she can help explain some things to Caroline in a way the blonde will understand. Surprisingly, it isn't long before both of them catch on to the ways of their new lives. One thing that perked up both newborns considerably was the knowledge that they can drink however much alcohol they want and won't suffer any consequences.

Finally, as the first afternoon starts drawing to a close, Stefan shows up with Judgy in tow. That was fast work. Wonder what he said to convince the witch to make Vampire Barbie a daylight ring so quickly? But I doubt he'll ever tell me.

It isn't long before Caroline's ring is made and Elena and I've kicked Judgy out again because we're _still_ pissed at her. Though I can sense that making Caroline a ring earned the witch _some_ brownie points with Elena, it's still not enough to even _begin_ negating nearly causing my death. And I doubt _I'll_ ever fully forgive her for being the reason Elena died in my arms the way she did. I'll eventually have to tolerate her being around when Elena finally forgives her, but I won't ever make the mistake of trusting that witch again.

As it is, it takes several days to finish the last of Elena's training then about three more days of both Elena and I working with her tag-team style to finish Caroline's training.

It's only when Caroline's training is finished and she's gone back to her mom's house that Elena and I decide to stop wasting time and use those spells Gemma had left us. We can both sense the impending storm brewing and know instinctively we will need the powers those spells will grant us to survive unscathed.

Elena and I are now in our room with the journal I had transferred Gemma's messages to, Elena watching me as I locate the message that includes the spells. It doesn't take long. I see that whatever magic had been blurring the spells I'm to cast on my girl has vanished, allowing me to read the spells.

I look into my girl's eyes. "Are you sure you're ready?" I ask. "She said there'll be side-effects when I cast these spells on you."

Elena nods, determination etched in every fiber of her being. "Let's get it over with," she says. "We can't keep postponing it."

I sigh and begin casting the first spell on her. As soon as I complete it, Elena collapses with a cry of pain. "Elena!" I cry, dropping the journal.

"Keep going!" she manages to get out around the agony I can sense she's in. "Don't stop!"

I want to argue with her but I know it will be futile. I know I _have_ to finish casting all three spells. I start the second spell. As soon as that one is complete, sparks of ice blue electricity start rolling over Elena's skin in waves while balls of blindingly bright blue light float in the air around us. Both the orbs of light and the electricity match my eye color. Maybe the third one will be the key to stopping these horrible side-effects. I cast the third spell. Once it's complete, the electricity and balls of light vanish and I can sense with relief that the pain the first spell put her in is dying away. Elena lays on our bed, gasping like a human who had run a marathon with no preparation. I gather her in my arms, holding her close to me.

"I understand now," she whispers when she finally catches her breath, confusing me.

"Understand _what?"_ I demand.

"You'll understand, too, as soon as I'm recovered enough to cast the spells I need to cast on you," she says mysteriously.

"How can you even _cast_ those spells? The ones I had to cast used a great deal of my Power and I've been building it up since the day I was turned," I protest. "You're only a newborn. You don't have that kind of Power available to you."

"The spells change us, Damon," she says. "It changes us from mere vampires into something _more._ I've now got more Power in just my pinky than any normal vampire _ever_ will no matter _how_ long they live."

This confuses me greatly until she allows a small portion of her Power to uncurl from within her so I can sense it. I gasp in shock. The amount of Power she had let out is more than enough to destroy an entire continent if she so wanted to. And somehow I can tell that this is only a minute _sliver_ of the Power she can now tap because of the spells I had cast on her.

To say that I'm horrified is an understatement. And to know that as soon as she recovers, she'll cast spells on me that will grant _me_ that kind of Power as well? That's beyond horrifying. No being should _ever_ have that much power at their disposal!

Now I understand _why_ Gemma had left me warnings to never again turn off my humanity after these spells are cast. The monster I had come to town as wouldn't hesitate to use all that Power selfishly and with no regard for how it affects those around him. Not to mention as the elder vampire in our mating bond, I was automatically made the leader. Whatever I do or don't do, Elena will follow my lead all-too-willingly.

Elena recovers from her ordeal slowly, taking several hours and no few blood bags to overcome the shock her body had gone through. Finally, shortly after midnight, she turns to me. "It's time," she says. I know what she means and everything in me rebels at the thought of going through the same thing she went through. She kisses me tenderly on the lips. "It's okay, Damon. Everything will be fine. I know it will," she reassures me.

I take a steadying breath and pass over the journal, opened to the page with the spells she will need to cast on me. "Go ahead," I say through grit teeth, bracing myself.

As soon as she completes the first spell, I cry out in agony and collapse. A million images buffet my brain, nearly driving me insane. Sensations I have never experienced become part of me as my memories of my entire existence are altered to include new, unidentifiable senses that I am now magically 'graced' with. It feels like my entire being is being altered, cell-by-cell. And to think Elena had managed to talk to me through _this!_

Unlike me, Elena continues on with the spells in spite of everything in her crying out to comfort me. She experienced this first, she knows what to expect though she couldn't explain it to me in a way I ever would have understood without going through it myself.

The second spell causes sparks of brown-tinged electricity to roll over my body in waves, leaving strange sensations behind. The blinding orbs of light that appear for me are also tinted with a brown hue. Both electricity and orbs are the same color as Elena's eyes. And now I know that two of the powers granted by the second spell are what caused those effects in Elena because I can feel my own Power being tapped to create the electricity and orbs of light, though I don't yet know how to control them. I feel my own, natural Power grow so tremendously it's a wonder that it doesn't rip my body to shreds.

Finally, when Elena finishes the third spell, I find myself filled with knowledge on how to control every power granted to me as will as every power granted to Elena. And there is even more knowledge granted to me on top of that, knowledge that makes me understand _exactly_ why Elena's first words after my spells were done were "I understand now." I immediately put an end to the new powers I had been granted. The pain that had been caused in the first spell slowly fades away.

I find myself laying on our bed, held tightly in Elena's arms as she whispers soothing nonsense to me. I also feel like _I_ was a human who had just run a marathon with no preparation. I lay in Elena's comforting embrace, gasping for air I don't really need.

That 'something more' that Elena and I have become? The only thing I can think to call it is 'super vampires'.

We now have magic even the most powerful witch or warlock in history would be jealous of. We can control the elements with barely a thought. We can now use telepathy to communicate with each other from any distance in the universe. We are so damn powerful now that if we so wanted to, we could alter the fabric of space and time itself. We can wipe entire worlds from existence if we so wanted to, using very little of our Power.

And that's just the _least_ of our capabilities now. We're super vampires, the most powerful beings to ever to be created in the universe outside of the Seer. "I agree," Elena whispers in my ear. "We will have to be very careful from here on. We now have the power to destroy _everything_ if we're don't."

I realize that I had been unknowingly broadcasting my thoughts to her. I had previously had the rarely granted vampiric power of telepathy, but only within a limited range and only to people I knew well and _only_ when I used a lot of concentration. Now I find I have to concentrate to _block_ my thoughts from Elena. Of course, she's having the same difficulty since I can mentally 'hear' her inner worries over how dreadfully powerful we now are.

'_We must have been the imperial king and queen that Gemma so revered in her time,'_ Elena thinks at me.

I agree. I had suspected beforehand. Now I'm sure. We'll become that all-powerful couple that will rule an empire spread across countless galaxies in the distant future.

"Gemma said that our powers won't even reach full strength until after we've had them several decades," I remember suddenly.

I feel the fear tightening Elena's throat at the horror of that realization. I share it. If we're this powerful _now,_ how much _stronger_ will we be when a century has passed? I dread the answer to that question and I know Elena shares the feeling.

* * *

Sarah: well, you finally know what the spells Gemma had left them do. And I barely even touched the _tip_ of the iceberg of their many powers. More powers will appear over the course of this story and the next. Review and tell me what you think.


End file.
